Sharepoint 2010 products configuration wizard giving error

Question

Small disclaimer: I am a n00b at Sharepoint. I am actually a developer and have just been given Sharepoint platform saying that I have to get it running properly =/ Have had no training, all my knowledge comes from reading extensively on this site as well as other blogs and sites.

A bit of history before I give details on the error. We currently have a Production environment for Sharepoint with 2 websites running (different ports). One as production and the other as UAT. This environment did not suit our UAT requirements and so steps were taken to essentially create a replica of the environment on separate virtual machines etc.

And so the App and Db servers have been separated for UAT and they needed to be renamed etc. So in effect we didnt install anything and just placed a "copy" of both servers in new machines.

DB is up and running, allowing connection via SQL Studio. On the new App server I tried to reconfigure Sharepoint to start pointing to the SPDB-UAT as all the content and Central Admin database is residing there.

This brings me to the error I am facing when running Sharepoint 2010 products configuration wizard and trying to use existing farm :

Cannot connect to database master at SQL server SPDB-UAT. The database might not exist, or the current user does not have permission to connect to it.

Looking into the logs:

An exception of type Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.PostSetupConfigurationTaskException was thrown. Additional exception information: Cannot connect to database master at SQL server at SPDB-UAT. The database might not exist, or the current user does not have permission to connect to it. Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.PostSetupConfigurationTaskException: Exception of type 'Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.PostSetupConfigurationTaskException' was thrown. at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.EnsureDatabase(Parameter parameterDatabase, Boolean validateVersion) at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.EnsureConfigurationDatabaseConnection() at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.Validate(Int32 nextExecutionOrder) at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TasksQueue.Validate(Boolean useDefaultExecutionOrder) at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.PsconfigBaseForm.ValidateConfigurationData() at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.PsconfigBaseForm.TryValidateConfigurationData()

Points to note:

• I ran the Wizard as an Administrator
• The user as permissions to DB itself, to the DB server as well as App server as an admin
• Master DB exists on SPDB-UAT

I thought of running wizard and trying to set a new server farm and I still got the same errors.

I hope I do not have to reinstall Sharepoint and start from scratch on the APP server and am hoping someone can help me out, because reinstalling Sharepoint would pose a whole different set of issues for me!

Answer 1

Can you connect to the DB server from the APP server using SQL Management Studio, also are you able to create a database with that user account (since SharePoint requires DB creator rights)?

Answer 2

Use http://autospinstaller.codeplex.com/ to install SharePoint 2010 or SharePoint 2013. You will get an installation based on best practices.

Answer 3

Could you please check below two things?

1. if firewall is turned ON at database server side? If turned ON then put it OFF.
2. Are you using a domain account to run your Configuration Wizard? If not please do so.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Such a n00b mistake!

• I was supplying the Machine-Name as server-name instead of machine-name\instance-name

*slaps forehead *

Thank you ALL who answered my question. You guys rock!

Answer 5

There can be several reasons for the encountered error:

Reason #1: Firewall is blocking incoming traffic on SQL Server on Port 1433 (Default Port of SQL Server) or all incoming traffic.

Resolution: Check if this is the case, if yes, and then create a new incoming rule to allow Port 1433 in the windows firewall.

Reason #2: Farm credentials, which are specified in the wizard or using PowerShell command does not have enough permission.

Resolution: You need to make sure that Farm account must be a member of SecurityAmdin and dbCreator role on SQL Server.

Reason#3: SQL Server Browser service is stopped or disabled.

Resolution: You need to make sure that SQL Server Browser service is enabled and active in order to connect to SQL Server by using either Name Instance or SQL Server Alias Name.

Reason #4: SQL Server Alias Name is only created for 32-bit (SQL Native Client 11.0 Configuration).

Resolution: You must configure SQL Server Alias Name for both 32 and 64-bit (SQL Native Client 11.0 Configuration)

Please also check below articles: http://blogs.technet.com/b/tothesharepoint/archive/2011/01/12/troubleshooting-sharepoint-configuration-error-cannot-connect-to-database-master-at-server-name.aspx

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sharepointadminprevious/thread/174ddc2d-0c1c-4263-8df3-d818d78e9ccb

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlsetupandupgrade/thread/889bdb3b-8574-4a78-b26d-41fb9b1ef0b9